Ecuador Tax Law Protests 2015: President Rafael Correa Denounces Coup Attempt
By Julia Glum @superjulia j.glum@ibtimes.com on July 02 2015 1:31 PM EDT
Thursday, July 02, 2015 As of 3:10 PM ED

Ecuadorean leaders this week denounced protesters' alleged plans for a coup, urging the country to remain calm as it entered its fourth week of demonstrations. President Rafael Correa announced Wednesday the government had "clear indications" a coup was coming and organized a pro-government event to take place Thursday afternoon outside the presidential palace, Telesur reported.

"They want violence to overthrow a government of immense national and international support," Correa tweeted, going on to urge people to attend a "joyful" counter-protest with music at 4 p.m. "They will not succeed."

Activists have been protesting for about a month over new bills that would raise taxes on inheritances and real estate, according to previous International Business Times reporting. Correa had said the bills would "redistribute wealth" and "democratize property" for a small number of people. Protesters argued they would do the opposite.

Correa temporarily withdrew the bills June 15 in an effort to placate Ecuadorians ahead of Pope Francis' visit to the country set for July 6-8. The demonstrations didn't stop -- they just started calling for Correa's resignation. Plans for protests Thursday included blocking airports, bridges and the presidential palace, interior minister Jose Serrano said in a press conference, La República reported Serrano said they wanted to seize power or at least cause the Pope to cancel his visit.

"They planned to use pointed sticks to break police shields, to throw balloons filled with paint for police to lose visibility, to pepper-spray police horses and dogs so they got scared," Serrano added.

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but he's made a lot of the correct decisions for Ecuador to move the country into the 21st century and the overall economy has improved. Instead of austerity, he kicked the IMF out of the country, a bold move for a tiny country.

I hope he survives this one. Ecuador is as lucky to have him as Bolivia has been to have Morales.

The last thing they need is another right wing military jerk who will put the country into deep debt buying military crap they're bribed to buy.

even though they knew Ecuadorean people wanted it gone, had been protesting it for ages before Correa was elected.

They probably have every intention to get rid of Correa any way possible and grab back that land for their base, just as if nothing had ever happened.

They really don't like Latin American countries getting back their self-respect.

despite your ongoing clueless assertions; it was good for business. And it wasn't a US "Air Force Base", but a couple of aircraft hangars at one end of Manta's commercial airport runway.

P.S. The State Department doesn't implement policy out of spite for the host country. You never miss an opportunity to promote the belief that South Americans hate the US, do you?

I guess no one was supposed to notice the people themselves who worked hard to get the government to kick them out.

I support the actual citizens of Latin America, not their predators.

And what were their predatory practices? Totally funding local fire and rescue services? Contributing to local charities? Spending millions of dollars in the local economy?

If you truly supported "the actual citizens of Latin America" you'd spend some time there. You might learn something if you did.

quarters, large stretch of coast line, and "campo" type interior. I am guessing a few hundred US troops were previously stationed there. The Us built some of the facilities. It is currently used by the Ecuadorian forces. There is no retaking the land as JL claimed unless some other agreement is reached at some future point in time.


The small civilian terminal continues to operate as well with 3 airlines there or so. Flights to Quito daily and maybe a couple of other cities. Also, operated by Ecuadorian authorities.

The base was never a US base, it was never closed, and remains under Ecuadorian control.

It is not gone as you say.

Correa made it one of his campaign issues. It's one of the reasons he was elected.

Because its an Ecuadorian base just like the Honduran base belongs to Honduras, not the usa in both cases.

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I didn't know that anyone in Ecuador had been nailed for that horrible bombing raid--which was likely run out of the U.S. military base at Manta; the U.S. was still there at the time; Bush Jr. was in the White House, Rumsfeld at the Pentagon, and Bush Jr.'s mafia pal Alvaro Uribe was running Colombia. 25 sleeping peaceful slaughtered by a 500 lb U.S. "smart bomb," in a peace negotiation camp, with Swiss, Spanish and French envoys en route to the camp for a hostage release; out of the ashes and body parts, Uribe (Rumsfeld?) created the "miracle laptop" which "proved" (um...didn't prove) that Hugo Chavez was helping the leftist FARC guerrillas in Colombia to obtain a nuclear weapon, among other wild, and since totally debunked, charges. Rumsfeld wanted a war between the U.S./Colombia and Ecuador/Venezuela, and so, apparently, did Colonel Pazmino.

Thanks for posting this!

This latest fascist "plan" (certainly classic CIA, but it may have been those they tutored who tried to carry it out) seems to have backfired.

Correa is hugely popular. He has created the most stable government that Ecuador has ever had, or certainly that Ecuador has had in recent decades. He has also created an economy that works for almost everybody--good basic socialism with a fair chance at a decent life for all. These recent rightwing protests, on behalf of the 0.01%, are absurd (thought dangerous--part of the coup plot). The protests from the left are more serious and have mostly to do with natural resources and Indigenous land rights. It's a VERY DIFFICULT problem in a country where the great majority have been ravaged by the rich and by transglobal corporations--a "jobs vs the environment" issue. Excruciating! Couldn't be a worse bind that Correa is in, on this matter. But he has managed to keep a 60+% approval rating.

He asked for help from the developed countries to set aside large swaths of natural resource land, and, of course, they turned a deaf ear, cuz our government and its allies want the transglobal corporations that own them to raid Ecuador's resources. They are not about to help Correa create environmental preserves.

I saw this happen in California in the 1960s, when the final destruction of the redwood forest began, under our otherwise great liberal governor Pat Brown. Jobs vs the environment is like "Bambi Meets Godzilla" (very short movie).

In any case, Correa is a leader who at least attempts to achieve a balance between development and preservation of the environment--so important these days with the very planet in peril. In all justice, the rich countries SHOULD help the poor countries, which have been so ravaged and exploited, to save the planet. It isn't Ecuador's poor who have been killing the planet.

in an anti-Ecuador plot, considering the object was lobbing a US bomb into Ecuador without even discussing it with their President.

How twisted could they get, anyway? That's the soul of treachery. What a bunch of dirtbags.

Their only interest in any of these situations is getting the leftists out of Latin American governments and giving control back to US multinationals with the backing of the US-taxpayer-funded military, just the way it used to be. It's an arrangement concocted in the bowels of hell, as far away as possible from "democracy."

Recent sales tax increases and aggressive collection enforcement have hurt owners of small tiendas and even local street vendors. His obnoxious rejection of an opportunity to extend a favorable trade agreement with the US has forced exporters to sell their products to Colombia at lower prices for export to the US market. Ecuadoreans have noticed the deterioration of Venezuela's economy and are concerned that Correa is intent on taking Ecuador's economy down that same path.

Correa is seen as becoming a paranoid autocrat, as is evidenced by his desire to remove term limits to allow him to continue in power and by his aggressive actions to attack, vilify, and sue his critics. I think he's going to keep a lower profile until after the Pope's visit, but all bets are off after that.